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Jodie Foster stole the show at the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills tonight when she officially came out as a lesbian while accepting the Cecil B. Demille Lifetime Achievement Award.

‘I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago, back in the stone age,’ the actress insisted in an acceptance speech that sent the Twitterverse into a frenzy. ‘In those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends, and family, coworkers and then gradually, proudly, to everyone who knew her. To everyone she actually met. But now, apparently I’m told, that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a prime time reality show. You guys might be surprised, but I’m not Honey Boo Boo child.’

Foster, a child star who went on to become a two-time Academy Award winning actress as well as a director and producer, has been steadfastly private about her personal life.

‘If you had been a public figure since the time you were a toddler, if you had to fight for a life that felt real and honest and normal against all odds, then maybe you too would value privacy above all else,’ she told the crowd.

Foster has given birth to two sons who she has raised with her now ex-partner Cydney Bernard who she thanked in her Globes speech.

‘There is no way I could stand here without acknowledging one of the deepest loves of my life, my heroic co-parent, my ex-partner in love but righteous soul sister in life, my confessor, ski buddy, consigliere, most beloved, BFF of 20 years Cydney Bernard, thank you Cyd,’ Foster said. ‘I am so proud of our modern family, our amazing sons Charlie and Kit who are my reason to breathe, and to evolve, my blood and soul. And boys, in case you didn’t know it, this song, all of this. This song is for you.’

Foster has been named one of the Out 100 gays and lesbians by Out Magazine on several occasions but her only public comment ever about a female partner was in late 2007 when she received the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at the 16th annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

I was seated just a few tables away from her that morning and was surprised when towards the end of her speech, Foster thanked ‘my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss.’

They reportedly split the next year.

Foster, whose films include The Silence of the Lambs, The Accused, Taxi Driver, Little Man Tate, Contact and Panic Room, was presented with her award by Robert Downey Jr. who she directed in the film Home for the Holidays.